topic Re: Can a CA pull your credit? in General Credit Topics

Can a CA pull your credit?

Anonymous — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 18:04:44 GMT

NO! At least not now in the Ninth U.S. Circuit. This is a win for consumers.

http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/consumersmarts/archives/124338.asp

http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/ca9/newopinions.nsf/0E97340F115F2AF58825735D005212BB/$file/0417485.pdf

"Under the plain terms of § 1681e(a), a subscriber’s certification cannot absolve the reporting agency of its independent obligation to verify the certification and determine that no reasonable grounds exist for suspecting impermissible use."

That means the CRA is on the hook if they stand on the argument that "But your honor, they told us they had PP."

This was over a traffic citation, so it's possible if a collection is over a credit card or other credit transaction then Pinto would not obtain. However, for medical collections, library collections, et al., this does hold.

Message Edited by Noah_Bodie on 10-29-2007 11:04 AM

Re: Can a CA pull your credit?

Anonymous — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 18:09:07 GMT

This could also be useful if a car dealer says they need your SSN "just for insurance purposes", and then pull your credit without your permission.

Re: Can a CA pull your credit?

Anonymous — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 18:52:45 GMT

Pretty clear here that a CA does not have PP unless it is related to a credit transaction initiated by the customer.

Re: Can a CA pull your credit?

fused — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 18:56:57 GMT

Good post Noah! CAs and car dealerships, is there really a difference. A CA never has PP according to the FTC section 604 which requires a consumer to be applying for credit in order for any entity to yank credit reports. Last time I checked it's impossible to apply for credit with a CA.

Re: Can a CA pull your credit?

Anonymous — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 20:10:31 GMT

Thanks Noah for the good info! You are chocked full of good info.

(and thanks so much for emailing me what you emailed me.)

Re: Can a CA pull your credit?

fused — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 21:06:07 GMT

Sylviatob wrote:
Thanks Noah for the good info! You are chocked full of good info.

(and thanks so much for emailing me what you emailed me.)

Mind emailing it to the rest of us guys?

Re: Can a CA pull your credit?

Anonymous — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 21:13:02 GMT

hey. Hey! It was something else he posted a long time ago. I commented how much I appreciated him posing those links at the bottom of each message, and he was kind enough to email them to me.

Don't tell me YOU went out and got a Hooter's card! LOLOL

Re: Can a CA pull your credit?

Anonymous — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 00:18:20 GMT

I have a few inquiries on my report from CAs and so does my husband. So you guys are saying that the CA can't do that? How do I get rid of them? I'm not exactly thrilled at the prospect of calling or writing a collection agency that I can't pay yet?

Re: Can a CA pull your credit?

Dawn — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 12:14:23 GMT

With all the reports of hard inquiries without PP, I find myself wondering if creditors and CRAs have been lax over the years (because of a lack of report reviews on the part of consumers) in choosing to seek (and allow) hard inquiries when they should have been soft (if at all.) However, it does seem pretty obvious that CAs should not have PP ... without having to go to court to get a ruling on that.

Until the masses had access to their 'annual free credit report' most of us would have never known who (or how often) anyone was pulling our reports. DH and I did not seek new credit for about 15 years and never had a reason to pull our credit reports to see who was looking over our shoulder. Having never been denied for credit, we were never entitled to a "free report" until recently, so we had no clue who was "spying" on us. By the time we saw our reports, any unacceptable inquiries would have fallen off.

This new freedom we have to scrutinize our reports has made us aware of things that have been going on for so long, the participating parties probably assume that since no one has been rocking the boat (up until now) their standard procedures are acceptable. CAs may have access to some of the information in our credit reports that would assist them with skip-tracing, but maybe their operations aren't sophisticated enough to be aware of what they legally can ask for and receive. Then again ... maybe they are all just mean-spirited and intentionally attempting to cause more problems for the consumer.

I also wonder if some of the hard inquiries are because of software programming on the part of those creditors pulling the reports. Maybe the individuals who initiate an inquiry are using software that doesn't give them an option of what type of inquiry to request, hence the number of hard inquiries that should be soft?

Just grasping at straws here and trying to give the front-line customer service people a break when they say the inquiry will be soft (or not pulled at all) without knowing what the back-office procedures really are. We have become a nation of "gate-keepers" and front-line Customer Service doesn't really always have all the answers. One of the more difficult things I have had to try to get through to my kids is that the first person they talk to doesn't always have the right answers and they have to push to go higher up the chain to get to someone who really does know (or can find out.)

March on brave warriors (to places no man has gone before!)

Re: Can a CA pull your credit?

Anonymous — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 20:33:56 GMT

I just pulled my Experian report and I noticed a CA that I have a medical collections with pulled my credit in 3/07 as a hard inquiry!!

Re: Can a CA pull your credit?

MidnightVoice — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 20:41:51 GMT

Ok, so I just read the idots' translation.

This applies in the 9th circuit, wherever that is

It also applies if the person NEVER applied for credit - so for many CA transactions it seems a hard pull is legal

When can a creditor pull your credit report?

If you don't voluntarily seek credit or participate directly in a credit transaction, is a debt collector allowed to pull your credit report?

The answer is no, according to a ruling last month by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers Washington. The court ruled that debt collectors are allowed to pull a credit report only for account collection "in connection with a credit transaction involving the consumer."

......

The appellate court concluded that the woman did not voluntarily seek credit (she never sought to have her SUV towed), no one granted her credit and there was no "credit transaction," so they weren't allowed to obtain her credit report.

Re: Can a CA pull your credit?

Anonymous — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 20:54:12 GMT

Ok, so now that we know it is wrong/illegal, how would one go about disputing it? Or would it even be worth the hassle??

Re: Can a CA pull your credit?

MidnightVoice — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 21:20:38 GMT

Elexi21 wrote:
Ok, so now that we know it is wrong/illegal, how would one go about disputing it? Or would it even be worth the hassle??

The late lamented Tuscani would say "Never, ever, dispute an inquiry"

Re: Can a CA pull your credit?

detdime83 — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 22:06:45 GMT

Thank You so much! Just what I needed...I think. I had a CC with Orchard Bank. The account was sold to Peoples First Recoveries. I paid the OC the balance due because the CA was not listed on my CR. This month the CA put 5 hard hits on my CR. Is this legal? The account was PIF before the inquiries began. Help Please!!

Re: Can a CA pull your credit?

fused — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 22:14:20 GMT

MidnightVoice wrote:

Elexi21 wrote:

Ok, so now that we know it is wrong/illegal, how would one go about disputing it? Or would it even be worth the hassle??

The late lamented Tuscani would say "Never, ever, dispute an inquiry"

I think it's more true if you have an inq with a corresponding TL. The TL can vanish with the inq. Disputing a non PP inq by a CA is fine. I would dispute it as not mine, I didn't apply for credit with a CA.

Re: Can a CA pull your credit?

haulingthescoreup — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 00:33:49 GMT

@MidnightVoice wrote:
he late lamented Tuscani would say "Never, ever, dispute an inquiry"

Did Tuscani die?!?!?

Re: Can a CA pull your credit?

Anonymous — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 02:37:58 GMT

Hi everyone,

I've been reading these boards for the last couple of months, first let me say thank you to everyone for all the usefull info. Second let me as does anyone know who Williams & Fudge(?) are? They have pulled three hard inquiries on my credit in the last six months. I have no idea who they are and I really don't want to call the 800 number on my cr. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Also the only baddies I have on my 3 reports are medical collections that were paid before the put them in to the CRAs, today I had them agree to take them off of all three reports. Any idea how much this should help with my credit score?

Fico Eq = 650 TU= 630 Ex=598

Fako Eq= 678

Re: Can a CA pull your credit?

Anonymous — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 02:37:58 GMT

Hi everyone,

Fico Eq = 650 TU= 630 Ex=598

Fako Eq= 678

Re: Can a CA pull your credit?

Anonymous — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 02:54:42 GMT

Just Google the name and they should pop up. That's what I do when a new one calls or comes up on my credit report. Google hasn't let me down yet.

Re: Can a CA pull your credit?

Anonymous — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 03:04:41 GMT

I would say if you didn't authorize the inquiry and it is from a CA. Dispute it like you would a regular dispute, but instead of saying inaccurate or misleading. You could just say that it wasn't done from a PP. I have had great success with EQ to remove unauthorized inquiries.